"Estonia", together with Latvia and Lithuania to the south, is known as the three Baltic states.

Estonia is located on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, on the southwest by the Gulf of Riga, and bordered by Latvia to the south and Russia to the east. The total land area is 45,339 square kilometers, the main ethnic group is Estonian, the total population is 1.313 million (2015), and the capital is Tallinn.

The Estonian nation was formed in the 12th ~ 13th centuries.

It was ruled by Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Tsarist Russia and Soviet Russia. On February 24, 1918, Estonia was freed from Tsarist rule and the Republic of Estonia was established. In February of the same year, Germany took advantage of the situation to occupy Estonia.

In November of the same year, Soviet Russia declared its sovereignty over Ireland. During this period, the Estonian people waged a tireless struggle for national independence. In February 1920, Soviet Russia recognized Estonia's independence.

The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic was established in July 1940 and joined the Soviet Union in August of the same year, becoming one of the Soviet republics. In 1991, following Lithuania, Estonia also declared independence.

The name of the country of Estonia (eesti) may be derived from the group of people known as "aestii" described in the ancient Roman historian Tacitus's Chronicles of Germania. The country has a large amount of oil shale and limestone, as well as forests that cover 47% of the territory.

Estonia is a developed capitalist country that joined NATO in 1994, the European Union in 2004, and the eurozone in 2011.

Due to its fast-growing economy and advanced information technology, Estonia is often referred to as the "Baltic Tiger" and is classified as a high-income country by the World Bank. Estonia is also the country with the best and most comfortable air quality in the world, and the capital Tallinn is known as the "Holy Land of Lung Washing".

The Estonian nation was formed in the 12th ~ 13th centuries. It was occupied and ruled by Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and Germany.

Beginning in 1710, Estonia was ruled by Tsarist Russia for more than 200 years. On February 24, 1918, independence was declared and the Republic of Estonia was established. The next day, the Germans occupied Tallinn. In November of the same year, Soviet Russia declared sovereignty over Estonia.

On February 25, 1918, at the end of the First World War, the German inhabitants of Estonia, led by Baron Delrins Hansen, staged a riot and asked the German army to enter Estonia.

Under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Brest Pact) signed between the Russian Soviet Socialist Federal Republic (Russia) and the German Empire on 3 March 1918, Russia ceded Finland, Estonian Strands (Estonia), Rivland (Latvia), Lithuania and Ukraine to Germany, and Russian troops and Russian Red Guards withdrew from these territories.

Germany then attempted to establish a United Baltic Duchy in Estonia and Latvia, which had been ceded by Soviet Russia, under the head of Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg.

In November 1918, the November Revolution broke out in Germany, followed by surrender on November 11. Soviet Russia seized the opportunity to announce the abrogation of the Brest Peace Treaty in an attempt to recover the territories ceded to Germany.

Under these circumstances, Estonia declared its independence on November 28, 1918, and the German population of the country formed a volunteer regiment to resist the attack of the Russian Red Army and Red Guards together with the newly formed Estonian army.

On February 1, 1919, the German general Rudiger von der Goltz, who had led troops in the Finnish Civil War, led the "Freikorps" composed of Germans to Estonia to help the war, and finally ordered the Russian government to sign the Treaty of Tartu with Estonia on February 2, 1920, and Soviet Russia "unreservedly recognized the independence of Estonia and automatically renounced Russia forever...... sovereign rights over the people and territory of Estonia".

In February 1920, Soviet Russia recognized the independence of Estonia. In August 1939, the Soviet-German Union signed a secret treaty that included Estonia in the Soviet sphere of influence.

Estonia is located on the east coast, with an area of 45,227 square kilometers, bordering Russia to the east, Latvia to the south, the Gulf of Finland to the north, and Finland across the sea, and the Gulf of Riga to the southwest, with a border of 1,445 kilometers and a coastline of 3,794 kilometers.

The climate of Estonia is an oceanic climate, which is obviously affected by the ocean, with cool and little rain in spring, warm and humid in summer and autumn, cold and snowy in winter, with an average temperature of 7C in winter and 16C in summer, and an average annual precipitation of 500-700 mm.

As of 2013, Estonia has abundant freshwater resources, with more than 7,000 large and small rivers, of which 16 are more than 100 kilometers long. The main rivers are the Woandu River (162 km), the Parnu River (144 km), the Paltsama River (135 km), etc., but due to the flat terrain and small drop, the hydropower potential is low.

The largest lake is Lake Chud, which borders Russia, with a total area of 3,555 square kilometers, making it the fourth largest lake in Europe, of which Estonia has a water area of 1,529 square kilometers. The second largest lake is Lake Walz, with a water area of 271 km.

The total area of the country's water area is 2,840 square kilometers.

Time zone......

Zone 2 East adopts daylight saving time, which is 6 hours behind Beijing time in winter and 5 hours later in summer.

Here, natural resources are scarce. The main minerals are oil shale (proven reserves of about 6 billion tons), phosphate rock (reserves of about 4 billion tons), limestone, etc. The forest area is 2,115,500 hectares, with a forest coverage rate of 48%, a forest stock of 409 million cubic meters, and a per capita timber possession of 178 cubic meters.

Ecology......

The World Health Organization published its first air quality database on September 26, 2012, and Estonia ranked first in the ranking of countries and regions for air quality. The database includes air quality data for nearly 1,100 cities in 91 countries and territories around the world, including capital cities and cities with a population of more than 100,000.

Forest......

Estonia has a forest cover of 48%, more than half of which is still in its pristine state, and the natural ecosystem is very well preserved.

There are many lakes and swamps in the territory, and forests, swamps, lakes and rivers have evolved at their own speed for hundreds of years, with very little human interference.

In January 2014, Statistics Estonia published statistics for the second census since independence: 1.1 million of the country's total population is 1,312,000, of which 1.1 million are of Estonian nationality.

The census was 75,816 fewer than in the first census in 2000, a decrease of 5.5 per cent. Of the total population, 600,000 were males, accounting for 46.4%, and 694,000 were females, accounting for 53.6%. Ethnic composition: Estonians 68.7%, Russians 24.8%, other ethnic groups 4.9%, and unknown nationality 1.5%.

Estonians are not very religious, less than one-third of the population is religious, and most of them are Protestant Lutheran churches. Russians believe in Orthodox Christianity. There are also certain reservations in religious traditions that originated in ancient fetishism.

The World Bank classifies Estonia as a high-income country. Due to its fast-growing economy, Estonia is often referred to as the "Baltic Tiger".